The registration process will be in addition to the Directors Identification Number, where a KYC process was recently undertaken. Sources told TOI that a corporate boss or a promoter, who may be an executive director on the board, will also have to register if he or she is an independent director on the board of another company.

The complete integration of Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank with Bank of Baroda (BoB) is expected to take nearly 18 months. But customers will reap the benefits much earlier. BoB will provide cash deposit and withdrawal facility in all branches by May. In an interview with TOI, BoB MD & CEO PS Jayakumar speaks of what customers, employees and investors can expect.

The RBI had said it had received requests from various stakeholders to increase the timeline given the difficulties in undertaking Aadhaar e-KYC and time necessary to put in place alternative systems for completing the KYC process.

In one of the largest locker raids in recent times, the Income Tax department is searching more than 600 lockers inside a vault at the Vardaan market in central Kolkata. The department has seized cash and jewellery worth more than Rs 1 crore in the past few days.

RBI officials, in a meeting with industry executives, are believed to have proposed a method of using XML internet format to extract limited information on customers from Aadhaar database for digital authentication.

The move is significant as it will also benefit financial technology companies that have been prodding the government to amend the law to make Aadhaar mandatory, an option that the Centre has virtually ruled out for the moment. The SC has ruled that Aadhaar-based verification could not be done by private firms.

Modelled on the lines of the income tax department’s platform, the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has begun work on what is being called the Central Scrutiny Centre that will scan filings of all companies and raise red flags.